GAA footballer arrested over vicious attack in San Francisco

Mark McGovern left with a serious brain injury after this summer's on field attack during a GAA gameGoogle Images

A GAA football player has been arrested in relation to the violent attack on Mark McGovern during a match in Treasure Island, San Francisco, this summer.

Patrick Power (26) was arrested at 8.30am on Friday morning on “suspicion of battery causing serious bodily injury” on June 25. The attack in question left McGovern (22) with a traumatic brain injury.

Police confirmed that the ball was on the other side of the field when then incident took place. Power was seen standing over an unconscious McGovern. Later, Power yelled a vulgar word at the fallen player and said, "He won’t get up from that."
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San Francisco Police Department’s Lieutenant Troy Dangerfield told KUTV that the decision to arrest Power came after reviewing a number of statements from witnesses.

Power will be arraigned in the San Francisco Superior Court. He is being held in lieu of $40,000 bail.

League officials have said Power is no longer playing in the local Gaelic Football Association.

McGovern, from Belcoo, County Fermanagh, had arrived in the United States just five days before the incident. He had planned to work in the city for the summer and play with local GAA club Ulster San Francisco.

In a statement released by McGovern’s family they said “There is no place for this sort of conduct in sports.”

McGovern’s mother, Josie said “Mark came to San Francisco to play a wee bit of football; not to get killed”.

The young GAA player’s family flew from Ireland to be at McGovern’s beside as soon as the incident too place. They were hopeful that he would make a full recovery until an MRI confirmed that he had suffered serious brain damage.